Poor Schools Are Failing Thousands of Pupils
According to the Telegraph, there has been an increase in the number of inadequate schools.
An announcement is expected to be made this week in the chief inspector’s annual report. It means that thousands of children are being let down by the state system despite expensive Government initiatives such as academy status and the National Challenge, that aim to to improve attainment in struggling schools where fewer than 30 per cent of pupils achieve five good GCSEs.
A detailed analysis by The Sunday Telegraph reveals that the number of schools judged to be failing or displaying significant weaknesses has increased from 10 per cent last year to nearly 12 per cent in 2007/8.
Michael Gove, the shadow children’s secretary, said: “I am deeply concerned that far too many pupils are still in schools that should be doing better. After massive spending and more centralisation and regulation, we still do not have the improvement in education that children and parents deserve.”
Figures supplied by Ofsted show that at the end of the spring term, 147 secondaries were either in special measures or had been served with a notice to improve. School reports from the summer term show that another 25 schools fell into these categories, while 35 schools had improved enough not to need further monitoring, but as there may be struggling secondaries that are waiting to receive an inspection, the overall number in inadequate schools is likely to be even higher.
